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Meldred Mooton
'''Meldred Mooton '''is the current Lord of Maidenpool and head of House Mooton. He is the father of countless children, and the grandfather of more than he can count. He seems to despise all of his children equally, less so for those who prove out useful for him. Appearance and Character Meldred used to be rather tall, but his back has since arched and now he stand at only five feet. The years have made his skin soft and thin, and his bones can be seen from under it. The top of his head went bald long ago, but he has thin, white strains of hair growing from the sides. He has a small selection of robes, cloaks and other pieces of clothing. He is a calculating, intelligent, ruthless man, but lacks courtesy and modesty. He has little interest in the customs of court, dismissing it as nothing but worthless scraping in hopes of more respect from higher lords. He could be viewed as selfish, as every maneuver in politics he does is for his own, personal gain, and not for his House. He does, however, take good care of his family members, though he shows little affection while doing so. He has gotten so used to people speaking ill of him behind his back, that he doesn't even care about it anymore. History Meldred was born in Maidenpool 291 years after Aegon's conquest. The eldest son of Lord William Mooton, the man considered a coward by many, he was to inherit Maidenpool and all the lands around it. From his very first day, he was destined to be a page in his father's court, and to be a thriving Lord in the new Westeros forged by Robert Baratheon. However, in 298 AC discord broke out in the Seven Kingdoms. King Robert's death was supposedly organized by his wife, the queen, to bring her son to the throne. Things escalated, when the former Hand of the King, Lord Eddard Stark, was imprisoned. Robb Stark raised his banners and marched south, and upon hearing that the Crown had publicly executed him, declared war and became King in the North. House Mooton, being sworn to House Tully, had to join the war on Robb Stark's side. As Maidenpool was very close to the border of the Crownlands, it was sacked many times during the war. Its Lord, William Mooton, was not a fighter and couldn't defend the city. Maidenpool was first sacked by Lannister soldiers, a second time by northmen, and a third time by brigands. The young Meldred Mooton was too young to join the fighting, and instead hid with his younger brothers. His Lord Father was too cowardly to even try to rescue his children. However, the young boys were curious, and especially Meldred and his younger brother, Trystane used to spy on the events of the town. While this gave both of them a lot of insight in espionage, they saw women raped, houses as well as people burning, death and destruction on a large scale. This left Meldred somewhat traumatized, and he grew up to shun the sword, and he became cynical about both the northmen and the Lannisters. As Randyll Tarly once captured the castle and imprisoned the entirety of House Mooton in a tower, he came to dislike even the Reachmen. Trystane, however, became interested in battle and swordsmanship upon witnessing the war that was very visible in Maidenpool. He grew up to be a great a knight as his uncle, Ser Myles Mooton, had been. After peace was returned into Westeros, after Renly reigned on the Iron Throne and Robb was allowed to wear his crown of bronze, House Mooton was sworn to Edmure Tully once again and the King in the North. Meldred's father cared little, and rejoiced that peace had been returned. His castle and town lay in ruins, and the smallfolk hated him for not doing anything to protect the city. Peace only lasted for ten years. Aurane Waters, behind him a handful of mercenary companies, came to bother the Iron Throne in the name of the Iron Bank of Braavos. Though House Mooton was not sworn to the Iron Throne anymore, Lord William Mooton ordered Meldred and Trystane to go defend the Blackwater, so they could get some experience in knighthood. Even though Meldred wasn't even interested in being a knight, he was too scared of being branded a coward like his father by remaining in Maidenpool. The nine-and-ten year old Meldred, and his six-and-one year old brother went to Duskendale with one hundred men each to defend the city. Despite the harsh fighting, the combined forces of the Second Sons and the Windblown overpowered the forces of Renly Baratheon, as well as the Mooton reinforcements. As most of the two hundred House Mooton men were butchered or taken prisoner, Meldred and Trystane retreated to Maidenpool. Despite the loss, Meldred made good friends with House Rykker, and he began orientating towards the Kingdom of the Iron Throne. House Mooton stood out of the fighting for a year, until House Rykker called for their naval aid in the Battle of the Tides, which was to settle the war once and for all. Meldred and Trystane were once again sent to represent House Mooton, and this time Lord William Mooton came too. However, the old, martially inept Lord met his fate during the battle, by catching an arrow to his heart. When Aurane Waters was defeated and Meldred returned home with his brother, he was named Lord of Maidenpool. Two years later, he got married to Selyse Longthorpe of Longsister, and had his firstborn son, Osbert. Lady Selyse died two years after the birth of Osbert of reasons unknown. The very next year, Meldred married the four-and-one year old Melessa Whent, who gave him four daughters. After Melessa died in 324 AC, Meldred wed Rhonda Poole the next year. With Rhonda, he had ten children; four daughters and five sons. To everyone's surprise, Rhonda died as well, in 346 AC, and four years later, the eight-and-five year old Lord Meldred was once again wed to a teenage girl named Carolei Shawney. Shawney was a rather slow birther, only giving Meldred six children, which may be the reason why she, too, vanished and was never heard from again, and was replaced by Wylla Frey. Wylla has yet to disappear, and as of now, has given Meldred three children. It is an old joke in and around Maidenpool, that Meldred Mooton's prick has magic powers (fertile). Lord Meldred Mooton and his city saw another era of peace, but not of prosperity. The numerous sackings during the War of the Five Kings had left the town neglected and deserted. The city's population had dropped tremendously, the citizens were poor, and the crops weren't producing very well. Meldred sought help from the surrounding Houses, and even the King in the North, but received only ”respectful declines”, small amounts of food or no answer at all. The citizens of Maidenpool disliked their Lord's inaction to feed them or raise the town's economy, and many moved away because of this. And with every family abandoning their shops or farms, Meldred's bitterness towards the Kingdom of the North grew larger. Thirty years this continued, and then Aurion the Exile assaulted Westeros. His army annihilated the Royal Fleet on the Blackwater, and then made land. Just when Maidenpool was getting back on its feet, Aurion's sellswords came and besieged the town. Meldred, desperate to keep the townspeople safe and satisfied, ordered his captain of the City Watch and brother, Trystane to man the walls and defend the city to the last man. He also tried to bribe the besieging Pentoshi and men from Crackclaw Point to leave the city alone, but to no avail. After a few moons of besieging, with no help coming from neither King, Aurion's sellswords finally broke through. Maidenpool was once again sacked. Trystane and his men tried to evacuate the people and fight off the invaders, but found themselves overpowered. In the fighting, Trystane fell and the City Watch was brought to the sword. Those surviving retreated to the keep, where they would hold on for the rest of the war, while Meldred watched from one of the balconies of his keep as the city was completely devastated, and the walls manned by the sellswords. A better part of a year Meldred and his household starved in the keep of Maidenpool. The invaders tried to penetrate the keep, but were always held back. It wasn't until Lord Robar Royce arrived from Crackclaw Point with his men from the Vale and destroyed the invaders. However, after Meldred and his family had been freed from the captivity of their surrounded keep, they were still held there as Lord Royce held custody over Maidenpool. Despite Meldred's protest, the command of the town and keep weren't given to him but after the war was over, which made Meldred upset, even though Lord Royce and his men did their best to restore the town back to a functioning state. Even after Aurion's army was destroyed, the remaining men scattered and became heavily geared bandits. The northmen didn't leave, either, instead occupying Crackclaw Point longer than they had to. And of course, Maidenpool being the closest place with a tavern along with Duskendale, the northmen came there to revel. After the northmen kept coming almost every night to drink their ale and cause trouble in the streets already riddled with cutthroats and thieves, Meldred again sent word to the surrounding Lords to do something about the northerners occupying Crackclaw Point. The other Riverlords did very little, as they were sworn to the King in the North, and had little interest in standing up against their own king's men. Thus, Meldred took up arms alone and told what was left of the City Watch to deny entrance from men wearing northern armor. However, the men sworn to House Mooton were small in numbers, and were overpowered by the occupying Royce and other northerner men. Lord Mooton's act of resisting the northmen from making trouble in his town was met with the commander Robar Royce's threat to have Meldred imprisoned for treason, and the small dispute was put to an end, before it had even gotten enough room to begin. Later, the Royce men left and Meldred was given full custody of his House's ancestral holdings, but all the northerner men Lord Royce took with him to the Vale. Maidenpool wasn't helpless thanks to the support received from House Royce, but it had definitely seen better days. The garrison was still outnumbered and the odds didn't meet the smallfolk's needs. The many moons that both the Pentoshi invaders and the high lords who came tohelp House Mooton by imprisoning them and denying them their right to rule their lands left Meldred bitter and angry. Maidenpool was still tested, despite all it had endured since the reign of the King in the North. The bandits who would later be united by Arrec of the Burning Brand robbed and raided the farms of the southern Riverlands, among them those around Maidenpool. It was, in fact, a good thing for Meldred and his people that Arrec came and took the bandits west, away from Maidenpool, sacking Stoney Sept instead. After the bandits disappeared, Maidenpool's struggle seemed to be at an end. After the sackings during the War of the Exile, it seemed like Maidenpool would never be back to its former glory. But slowly, the city began to rise again. Many victims of the bandits moved to Maidenpool where there was now a lot of space to set up a farm or a shop. For over ten years Maidenpool grew, and Meldred grew older and older in his keep, squirting new children into the world in a heartbeat. His many, now adult sons, took up the task to raise Maidenpool's strength, and by 370, Maidenpool was garrisoned by 2,500 trained men, not counting the levies. Because Meldred took no part in the War of the Burning Brand, he was quietly shunned by the other Riverlords. ”Cowardice runs in the blood”, some of them said behind his back, which infuriated Meldred even more. In the tenth moon of 370 AC, the City Watch is maintained by Wynton Mooton, one of Meldred's sons. The city isn't necessarily prospering, but it is getting by, trying to climb out of the pit that the many wars have put it into. Most of Meldred's older sons are knights, however many of them lack any true holdings. Most still live in the keep in Maidenpool, even if they are already married. As for Meldred's daughters, those who are not married still live in the keep, and are fed and taken care of by their elderly father. Because of the enormous amount of kin living in his keep, the finances for managing the entire household are always running low, so the taxation rate of the city is being held high. Sometimes Mooton men patrol the Kingsroad and collect tolls in order to maintain the city's financial situation. In Recent Events * Meldred Mooton attends Benjen Bracken's wedding at Stone Hedge.